Awards

Nick Leddy Awards

Stanley Cup

Bio

Nick Leddy Bio

Leddy is the prototype modern-day defenseman, possessing top-end skating and mobility to go with his 6-foot, 199-pound frame. In an age of puck-moving defensemen, Leddy stands out.

Following his junior year at Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota, Leddy was invited to join the U.S. National Team Development Program. Instead, he returned to high school for his senior year and led Eden Prairie to a state Class 2A championship title and was named Mr. Hockey for the state of Minnesota following a 12-goal, 45-point season.

Leddy is the prototype modern-day defenseman, possessing top-end skating and mobility to go with his 6-foot, 199-pound frame. In an age of puck-moving defensemen, Leddy stands out.

Following his junior year at Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota, Leddy was invited to join the U.S. National Team Development Program. Instead, he returned to high school for his senior year and led Eden Prairie to a state Class 2A championship title and was named Mr. Hockey for the state of Minnesota following a 12-goal, 45-point season.

Leddy remained home for college, attending the University of Minnesota, where he had three goals and 11 points in 30 games in the 2009-10 season and was named the team's rookie of the year. He was selected by the Minnesota Wild with the No. 16 pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, but on Feb. 12, 2010, his rights were traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, who signed Leddy to an entry-level contract in July 2010.

Leddy made his NHL debut on Oct. 7, 2010 in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche, and scored his first NHL goal two games later, on Oct. 11, 2010, in a 4-3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres.

Leddy was sent to Rockford of the American Hockey League on Oct. 17, 2010, but before he was recalled to Chicago on Jan. 7, 2011, Leddy helped the United States win a bronze medal at the 2011 World Junior Championship.

He ended the season with four goals and seven points in 46 games and became the second defenseman in Blackhawks history to score at least three goals in a season before turning 20 (Bill Gadsby, 1946-47, was the other).

By 2011-12, Leddy was an established defenseman, appearing in all 82 games and finishing with 34 assists and 37 points. During the 48-game shortened season of 2012-13, Leddy scored six goals during the regular season and helped the Blackhawks to a second Stanley Cup championship in four years.

Following the 2013-14 season, when Leddy scored seven goals and 31 points in 82 games, Chicago traded him to the New York Islanders on Oct. 4, 2014.

Leddy immediately stepped in to a top-four role with the Islanders, averaging 20:22 of ice time in his first season and leading Islanders defensemen with 10 goals, 37 points and a plus-18 rating. Leddy finished 16th in voting for the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman in the League.

His ice time jumped to 22:37 per game for the 2015-16 season when he reached the 40-point mark, finishing with five goals and 35 assists. In helping the Islanders reach consecutive playoff appearances for the first time since the 2003-04 season, Leddy averaged 27:04 of ice time in the 2016 postseason, contributing a goal and four points as New York advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 1993.